RAZOR
by Nedy Rahn
Summary: On the day of the destruction of the Colonies the Battlestar PEGASUS makes a major misjump during her blind jump to escape destruction.


RAZOR

A Fan Fiction Cross between Traveller and Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series.

By

D. L. Hemmingway

Author's Note: I don't own either franchise. Traveller is a hard science fiction adventure role-playing game developed by Marc Miller in the 1970s and currently in its fifth version. Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series aka Battlestar Galactica: 2003 was developed and produced by Ronald D. Moore and televised by the Science Fiction Channel between 2003 and 2009. I do have permission through Marc Miller's Traveller open license to write fiction based on Traveller. Note: this is an AU story and the divergence is Cain's blind jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yards.

Chapter One

Scorpion Fleet Shipyards, Scorpia,

Helios Gama System, Cyrannus Cluster:

Day of Cylon Surprise Attack

BATTLESTAR PEGASUS BS-62 Companion Way near CIC

Newly assigned Lieutenant Kendra Shaw was being escorted by Lieutenant Hoshi to her quarters after Shaw met with the PEGASUS' Commanding Officer and the Commanding Officer of BATTLESTAR GROUP – 62 Rear Admiral Upper Half Helena Cain. Kendra shouldered her duffle bag still smarting from her Tauron CO's rebukes and was determined never to show confusion or incompetence to the Dirt Eater again. Kendra was a Caprican after all and who was Cain to think that except for her out ranking Shaw that her being an Admiral in the Colonial Fleet made her anything more than just another dirt eating Tauron. Shaw knew for the good of her career though that she dare not voice her feelings about her CO. She would be the best Admiral's Aide she could be and she will not ever again expose herself to Cain's temper or her condescending attitude.

As Lt. Hoshi was about to show Lt. Shaw the right companion way to take to the Junior Officers' Quarters PEGASUS began to tremble and shake as the rumble of an explosion or two could be felt through the deck plates. Then conduits, pipes, and overhead plates fell down on them knocking everyone in the companion way to the deck. Shaw must have banged her head somehow as she came too, but was confused and disoriented as she looked around. The corridor was filled with smoke. Sparks were flying from electrical connections that were shorting out. Her vision looked as if she was looking through an oil smeared window. Her hearing was as if she were hearing through a tin can full of soup. There was a slowly diminishing ringing as well. The ship rocked and shook as more explosions occurred somewhere in or on PEGASUS.

Through Shaw's foggy vision she saw a woman with loose shoulder length dark brown hair and an open officer's service dress tunic checking those in the corridor to see if they were responsive and sending those who could walk on their way to their duty stations. Shaw was rolling onto her left side when the woman came up to her. The woman said something to her that Shaw could not understand at first. The voice sounded like someone was replaying an audio recording on too slow of a speed and with too much base. Then her ears cleared a little bit and the woman asked, "Are you all right?" The woman still sound like a recording being played back too slow and with too much base.

RADM Cain had been on her way to her quarters when the first explosions rocked her ship. She had loosened her tunic and let her hair down prior to entering her cabin. Then she was knocked to her ass by the concussion wave that traveled through the structure of the PEGASUS. After she got back to her feet Cain checked on the welfare of those crewmen nearest her. Then as she sent those who could move on their own to either their duty stations or the nearest Lifestation she made her way along the corridor.

After the next series of explosions rocked the PEGASAS she found Lieutenants Hoshi and Shaw. Hoshi was unconscious on the deck plates covered in debris from the bulkheads and the ceiling above. Shaw was alert, but confused and disoriented. Shaw was not functioning at her best as far as Cain could see. When she didn't respond to Cain's first and second inquiries to her welfare Cain struck her to shock her into some form of responsiveness. "Get up soldier, on your feet soldier, Move!" Cain yelled as she hoisted Shaw to her feet rather forcefully.

Minutes later the pair stormed into the PEGASUS' Combat Information Center and Cain yelled orders for status reports. Her Executive Officer Colonel Jorgen Belzen reported that there have explosions along PEGASUS' moorings and that some of them were nuclear. The PEGASUS' armor belts were keeping radiation levels within normal levels for human survival and that attacks seem to be going on throughout all the Twelve Colonies. Cain voiced that the Cylons must have broken the Armistice. Then she began ordering that the PEGASUS break all mooring links including external power lines and docking clamps. As the ship did this she also ordered the ship to full speed reverse.

Cain took Shaw by the arm and thrust her at the FTL control bank saying, "Spin up the FTL, now soldier!" Then she went back to ordering the rest of the crew to make ready for an emergency jump. "Shaw I want you to jump the ship as soon as the drives are spun up!" Cain finally ordered.

Kendra looked around shocked at that order and shouted back, "Coordinates?"

Cain looked at Shaw as if she were disobeying her and said, "I don't care about coordinates, just jump the ship when she's ready!"

"Sir, without coordinates we'll wind up in one of the suns or a planet!" Shaw objected.

"I don't give a frak about coordinates Lieutenant! When the drives are ready Lieutenant, jump the gods damned ship if you want to live!" Cain shouted back as Belzen started calling out time to impact on two new missiles detected on incoming path to PEGASUS.

The missiles got to within seconds of hitting the ship and Cain yelled out, "Jump the gods damned ship now LIEUTENANT!" In response Shaw pressed the FTL initiation button.

Externally the two missile which must have had proximity fuses detonated just as the PEGASUS initiated its blind jump. The energy of the combine nuclear explosions and of the opening of a jump point caused a rupture in space and time. The ship and much of the nuclear fire surrounding it were sucked through the rupture and sent across a greater distance than any Colonial ship had ever jumped before in a single jump.

TERRA, SOL, SOL SUBSECTOR, SIRIUS SECTOR, TERRAN CONFEDERATION

28 NOVEMBER 2170

(Circa 150166 Years after the Cylon Holocaust)

TERRAN CONFEDERATION GUIDED MISSILE CRUISER

TCS TICONDAROGA CGNS – 023 NEAR JUPITER

The Command Bridge of the TICONDAROGA was busy the Terrans had just driven back an attack by the Vilani and the Impies where retreating back to their space limping and licking their wounds. Captain Theodora Petrova Rostov stood at her tactical plot table reading the monitors overhead. The long range scanners detected a sudden pulse of energy similar to that of a ship leaving jump space near Ganymede. CAPT Rostov shouted, "Pilot full military thrust to Ganymede. We have an intruder near there. It had best not be another Impy coming to play," in her Muscovite accent.

Then she directed her order to her Communications Officer, "Send a message to Home Fleet Command. Tell them we have detected unknown jump point near Ganymede and are going to inspect."

Next she directed orders to the Weapons Officer, "Tactical spin up the primary battery and all secondary and tertiary weapon systems just in case this proves to be hostile.

CAPT Rostov walked around to take a look at another monitor over the tactical plot while barking out orders to her Flight Safety Officer, "Flight, have the CAG prep two Bearcats for flight! I want them armed with a mix of anti-ship and anti-fighter missiles in their rotaries."

Here Bridge Officers all responded in compliance to her orders. The TICONDAROGA moved from its station and accelerated to its full two gravities space maneuvering acceleration. The Navigation Officer had laid in a plot from Io to Ganymede that would keep other moons and object breaking up the TICONDAROGA's sensor shadow.

BATTLESTAR PEGASUS BS-62 COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER (CIC)

Cain came through the jump no worse for wear than she was when she entered the CIC. She looked across the tactical plot table and saw her new Aide was picking herself again up from off the deck plates. COL Belzen's hand grabbed the side of the tactical plot to steady himself, and then looked up at the overhead DRADIS monitors. He shouted out, "Contact!" He looked at the data coming in from the DRADIS system and read out, "Configuration unknown, size similar to a GUNSTAR…"

As Belzen read off the sensor data from the DRADIS system the PEGASUS' Communications Officer shouted, "Receiving communications contact from the unknown contact!" Even before Cain could order it put over the CIC's speakers the COMMS Officer patched through.

"_Unidentified vessel this is the Terran Confederation Ship TICONDAROGA please identify yourself and your intentions. Otherwise we will be forced to fire upon you. Please respond. Please avoid an interstellar incident…"_ The speaker's voice had a heavy Tauron accent although she was obviously speaking Caprican.

Cain picked up a handset from its cradle on the side of the CIC's tactical plot table. She cleared her throat and mind as she spoke, "TICONDAROGA this is the Colonial Battlestar PEGASUS. We have just completed an emergency jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yards. The Twelve Colonies are under attack by the Cylons and we request any assistance you may be able to offer…"

TCS TICONDAROGA COMMAND BRIDGE

CAPT Rostov listened to the reply from the voice over the speakers, _"TICONDAROGA this is the Colonial Battlestar PEGASUS. We have just completed an emergency jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yards. The Twelve Colonies are under attack by the Cylons and we request any assistance you may be able to offer…"_ It was a woman and she had an accent similar to that found near Volgograd or along the Caspian Sea coast of Russia. She definitely did not sound like an Impy with their nearly Bangladeshi sing-songy sounding accents.

Rostov took up a handset from the side of her tactical plot table and using it like a handheld microphone she spoke, "PEGASUS this is TICONDAROGA Actual please say again last." Her confusion and surprise crept into her Muscovite Russian accent as she talked over the communications channel.

Then the voice of the Volgograd woman came back, _"TICONGAROGA Actual, this is PEGASUS Actual I say again we have just completed an emergency FTL jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yard over Scorpia in the Helios Gamma System. The entire Twelve Colonies are under attack by the Cylons who have broken the Armistice. We need all Colonial Fleet assets back in the Colonies to drive out the Cylons."_

CAPT Rostov's confusion was prevalent in the expression as everyone on her Bridge could see. She lowered her handset and composed herself before replying. "PEGASUS Actual, this is Captain Theodora Petrova Rostov of the Terran Confederation Navy's Home Fleet and Commanding Officer of the TCS TICONDAROGA. It seems that you have misjumped and have exited Jump Space in our home system. I don't know anything about your Twelve Colonies. Also what are Cylons? And I may add you might have just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. We have just expelled an attacking fleet from the Vilani Empire. We are currently seeking out and destroying any Vilani Imperial Navy vessels still in system. We can offer assistance as far as helping you to get to Terra and our shipyards for repairs to your systems, but as far as sending assistance beyond that we are in the midst of our third war with the Vilani Empire. Any such assistance as you may need would have to be arranged with those above my pay grade."

PEGASUS CIC

Cain looked up at the DRADIS display as she took in what was just said. Captain Rostov just said that they as good as jumped from one fight into another. How far have they jumped after all? "Navigation, get a fix on our position according to the local constellations and match them up with our astrometric data!" She then pushed the talk button on the side of the handset, "Captain Rostov, Admiral Cain here are you from Tauron?"

"_Admiral Cain, Captain Rostov, no I come from Moscow the capital of the Russian Federal Republic a member of the Terran Confederation,"_ replied CAPT Rostov over the wireless. Then she asked, _"Admiral Cain from what part of Russia do you come from. Your accent places you from the region around Volgograd near where the Volga River empties into the Caspian Sea."_

COL Belzen looked up as the speakers and muttered not realizing that Cain overheard him, "Oh gods more dirt eaters."

"Colonel, check your language or else I will find a new XO and relieve you of your duties," Cain calmly said as she processed what Rostov just told her. It seemed that this Terran Confederation that they have accidentally jumped into possessed a people similar perhaps to her native Tauron. She then composed herself and asked, "What is the name of your homeworld Captain?"

COMMAND BRIDGE TCS TICONDAROGA

Looking up at the sensor displays that now included long range video imagery of the PEGASUS as the TICONDAROGA had finally closed to within video range of that ship within the last few minutes after their four hour burn at two g acceleration. They were yet still outside maximum range of the primary battery of the TICONDAROGA, a heavy charged particle accelerator cannon spinally mounted along the dorsal axis of the ship.

The PEGASUS was a monster of a ship. It was easily ten times the size of the TICO. Rostov listened to Cain's last question and decided that since they were in the home system and other vessels of the Home Fleet would be on their way it would not hurt to let this visitor know exactly where she was. Besides from the imagery the PEGASUS looked like shit at the moment. There were some fires burning where the flames could be seen escaping into space from hull breaches along the other ship's portside aft and starboard side fore. The PEGASUS looked like a whale crossed with an alligator and a Polynesian outrigger canoe.

"Admiral Cain I don't know where your Twelve Colonies are, but you are in the Sol System of the Terran Confederation. This is the capital of the Sol Subsector as well as the capital of the Terran Confederation. Currently our homeworld goes by its Latin name Terra, but up until a few years ago in the English language we mostly called our planet Earth…" Rostov said while she examined the sensor data coming back on the PEGASUS. The ship had taken several hits from nuclear munitions and conventional warheads as well. According to life signs sensors there were a little over 1700 lives over there, but several of them were showing very weak returns. The PEGASUS could be in need of medical assistance as well as engineering and repair teams.

CIC PEGASUS

Cain looked stunned up at the DRADIS imagery. What did CAPT Rostov just say? She depressed the push to talk button again, "Excuse me Captain did you just say your homeworld is or was until recently called Earth?" This language Rostov was speaking, the local version of Caprican, must be this English she mentioned.

"_Yes Admiral, until the middle of the current century we called our planet Earth. Is there some significance to this revelation?" _Rostov replied.

Cain thought a moment composing her thoughts and reply then she though only marginally religious spoke, "Captain in the ancient text of our primary religion Earth is mentioned as being the world that the Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol sought when they escaped the disaster that was consuming our former homeworld. The other twelve tribes settled in the Cyrannus Cluster a pair of binary systems orbiting a common gravitational center. I am from Tauron one of twelve viable worlds within the Cyrannus Cluster and one of four habitable worlds within the Helios Alpha system. As of a few minutes ago those worlds were under attack by an enemy of our creation. All of which I can explain better in a face to face meeting."

As she spoke her Navigation Officer and her Astrometrics Officer came up to the tactical plot with some sheets of data. The two Lieutenants looked a bit shy and pensive about their information and their approach to her. Then the Navigation Officer, a yellowish tan skinned woman with almond eyes and long straight black hair she had tied at the back of her head in a ponytail said, "Admiral, Leo, err… Lieutenant Conroy and I have determined that we are nowhere near the Cyrannus Cluster. In fact we are perhaps many thousands of light years away from home." LT Leonid Conroy from Libran laid out several still photographs of the local star clusters and constellations. In some of the images Cain began to see patterns in the stars similar to the symbols of each of the Twelve Colonies.

LT Susan Valarius her Navigation Officer spoke still, "As you can see from these images the constellations or at least some of them match the symbols from the flags of each of the colonies. We have Caprica, Gemenon, Picon, Tauron, Virgon, Leonis, Scorpia, Sagittaron, Libran, Aerilon, Canceron, and Aquaria…"

Cain looked down at the still images seeing that some of the visible constellations did indeed showed the signs of the twelve tribes of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Colonel Belzen said, "The scriptures say that when the thirteenth tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and they saw their twelve brothers." He touched each image showing a constellation that matched the symbols of each of the Twelve Colonies as he spoke.

By now Gina Inviere had come to the CIC to see if she could help with restarting the computers and aid in fixing the ship's network. She saw the two sleepers she was to monitor talking to Cain. The Eight and the Two were positioned years ago as members of Cain's Command Crew with Susan Valarius being assigned at the PEGASUS' Navigation Officer and Leonid Conroy her Astrometrics Officer. The PEGASUS' Computer Officer who Gina had been working with was a Three, Dana Bandar, but she had been killed when a piece of bracing crashed down upon her crushing her chest and to relieve her suffering Gina silently dispatched her. Gina was hoping that Dana had been able to resurrect, but now from what she overheard she was not so sure.

As Gina looked over Cain's shoulder at the pictures Leo and Susan had placed on the plot table she knew that they somehow had jumped way beyond the red line or the limit a Colonial FTL system could jump before mathematical anomalies caused dangerous navigational errors. Gina had also overheard Cain's conversation with this Captain Rostov of the Terran Confederation Navy. From what she could deduce there were more humans in the Galaxy than just those of the Cyrannus Cluster. Yet because of the emergency jump and subsequent associated misjump she was now not able to inform the rest of the Collective about this. As of now for all practical purposes there were only three Cylons in the universe. Gina decided that the best option was to keep her sister and brother in the dark as to their true existence and work to get the PEGASUS repaired and space worthy.

After taking in all the data Lieutenants Valarius and Conroy had given her Cain cleared her throat, pressed the push to talk button again and spoke, "Captain Rostov, Admiral Cain it seems we have much to talk about and perhaps we'd do best meeting face to face. My Navigation and Astrometrics Officers have confirmed that we did indeed "Misjump" as you called it. Perhaps you can have some navigational data for the surrounding star systems available so that my Navigations Officer could plot a return journey to the Twelve Colonies once our ship is repaired. That leaves the only question as to whether we meet on your ship or mine."

"_Admiral Cain, Captain Rostov I will travel over in an Assault Craft with a body guard of Terran Confederations Marines. I will bring a squad of eight. Will that suffice? And then we can discuss matters at hand and a small party of my officers will have data on Terra, the Terran Confederation, the Vilani and the Ziru Sirka or Grand Empire of Stars. You can give us data on the Twelve Colonies, the Cyrannus Cluster, and these Cylons you mentioned earlier and forgot to explain about when I mentioned I have never heard of them," _Rostov's voice said over the PEGASUS' CIC's speakers.

"Captain how many officers will you bring?" Cain asked.

"_Two,"_ Rostov answered, _"My Communications Officer and my Computer Officer. Later my Chief of Engineering and yours can go over what needs to be done to get your ship maneuvering again."_

Lieutenant Kendra Shaw listened in as her Admiral and this Captain Rostov talked, but she also went through the computer system compiling the code. She started looking at the code sequences because of the fact that many of the PEGASUS' systems failed prior to her manually engaging the FTL and doing the blind jump. "Frak me!" she suddenly yelled out. There was some anomalous coding in the most recent version of the COMMAND NAVIGATION PROGRAM or CNP. Still she was clueless as to what the anomalies allowed to happen, yet the Colonial Fleet had seemed powerless in face of the Cylon attack.

In the time it took to realize she said that out loud Kendra noticed that all those present in the CIC were looking at her. "Spit it out Lieutenant now that you have our complete attention," Cain said in her you better have a good reason for interrupting me voice. Shaw swallowed a bit then cleared her throat before speaking.

"Sir I am finding some anomalous strings of code within the latest version of the Command Navigation Program we were about to install and I am reading reports that we received just prior to our emergency jump from Scorpia Fleet Yards to wherever it is we are now. Also it looks like the extra energy from those last two near miss nukes added to that used for our jump sent us way beyond the Red Line or the maximum distance a Mercury-Class Battlestar can jump before recalculating jump coordinates," Kendra said as she reported to Cain. "I am not certain just where we are. But if Lieutenants Valarius and Conroy have clues we are somewhere near the mythical Earth I won't argue."

"Good, now Captain Rostov is coming over with her Communications and Computer Officers. I want you, Gina, and Rostov's Computer Officer to go over that code and see just what it did and how. Now I am going to the Portside Hangar Bay with an honor guard to meet our guests when they arrive. Colonel Belzen you have the con." With that said Cain not waiting for replies from Belzen, Inviere, or Shaw, left the CIC with her two Colonial Marine Corps body guards in tow to meet a platoon of Marines Belzen would be summoning to the port hangar bay to be her honor guard.

PORT SIDE HANGAR BAY BS PEGASUS THIRTY MINUTES LATER

RADM Cain stood in front of a Colonial Marine Corps (CMC) platoon from the PEGASUS' Ship's Troop Detachment watching as the magnetic tractor system towed the small, but slightly larger than a Raptor space craft to a point in front of her reception committee. With her were her Tactical Officer Lieutenant Colonel Fisk and her Landing Safety Officer Lieutenant Hoshi.

Magnetic Tow System stopped the air framed shuttlecraft in front of them with a portside hatch facing RADM Cain and her entourage. "Detail, attention!" yelled out LTC Fisk as the hatch opened. The sounds of the shifting of the Marines and her officers' boots as they came to the position of attention sounded throughout the cavernous chamber of the hangar deck. Cain watched as first two gray camouflaged Marines stepped out of the hatch and took up security positions to either side. Then three officers wearing dark black trimmed blue duty dress uniforms stepped out followed by the rest of the squad of twelve Marines. A Marine NCO quickly got the squad into a three rank formation by teams and the two junior officers took up positions just ahead of their security squad and equally behind the senior officer who could have been the spitting image of Cain's late sister Lucy.

The senior officer came to attention and rendered first a salute to the rear of the ship and then to Cain herself. The officer then said, "Captain Theodora Petrova Rostov commanding officer of the Terran Confederation Ship TICONDAROGA requesting permission to come aboard!"

Cain returned the salute and said, "Rear Admiral Helena Cain commanding officer of Battlestar Group Sixty Two and of the Colonial Fleet Battlestar PEGASUS, permission granted!" Both officers then ordered arms as CAPT Rostov's Computer Officer ordered the same of the rest of her detachment. Cain smiled saying, "On behalf of the Colonial Fleet, what may be left of it, I welcome you aboard the Colonial Battlestar PEGASUS."

CAPT Rostov smiled in a friendly, but polite manner in return and said, "And on behalf of the Terran Confederation Navy and the officers and crew of the Terran Confederation Ship TICONDAROGA welcome to the Sol star system and hopefully to the planet Terra." The two senior officers then stepped toward each other, shook hands and shared an embrace like long lost comrades rediscovering each other. Next they introduced their respective junior officers and a four man fire team broke off from the TCMC squad to be Rostov's personal guard as the other two took up security positions around the AC-347 Sky Raider Assault Craft. Cain also dismissed all but a four Marine team to be her personal guard an escorted Rostov and her officers to the CIC.

"I've decided to start in the PEGASUS' Combat Information Center or CIC as that is where the rest of my senior staff is trying to figure out just what happened when we made an emergency jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yards. My Chief Engineer Lieutenant Colonel Garner will meet us there as soon as he has the fires under control and damage control teams working on patching up hull breaches," Cain said as they wormed their way through the corridors of the massive ship toward its command center.

Rostov nodded as she strode besides Cain. "Our sensor show many hull breaches along your dorsal surface and the port side of your primary hull. It also seems that many of your ablative armor plates did their jobs, but are now gone. I suspect that any nuclear ordnance within the weapons used against your ship did that damage. Frankly Admiral Cain from the readings we have I am surprised we are seeing a ship as intact as the PEGASUS is."

LTC Fisk commented, "The Beast can take a licking sir and still fight on." His voice was filled with pride in his ship and his face reflected that pride. Rostov noted though that Fisk seemed to need some remedial physical fitness training. He was a little round for an officer on a Ship of the Line. Had he been in her staff Rostov would have had him on the TCN's weight control program and with her Ship's Doctor's advice a medically controlled fitness regimen. LT Hoshi on the other hand looked fit enough for an officer of his apparent age, roughly his late twenties to early thirties. Fisk on the other hand looked like he may have been a reservist called up to do his annual duty to the Fleet, just prior to the attack that forced Cain to order a blind jump to save her ship.

Rostov nodded at Fisk's comment and replied, "She may just have to fight on Colonel. We in the Terran Confederation are at war with a far larger interstellar polity spanning many parsecs coreward and spinward of Terra. So far it seems the region government has been reluctant to involve the whole of the Ziru Sirka otherwise the Impies would have been greeting you instead of us. We are now in the midst of the third war against them and until this latest engagement it was going bad for us. The TICO is one of a few ships to come out of the Battle of Terra without a scratch though I admit I lost all but five of my second squadron of Bearcat Light Fighters. We sadly failed to prevent a nuclear attack on many of our cities either during the battle. Like I said over the radio earlier Admiral you may have just jumped out of the frying pan into the fire." Though she was trying to be sympathetic with the plight of Cain and her officers and crew Cain also detected some animosity towards the Vilani or as Rostov called them with no little taste of venom in her voice Impies. Cain deduced that the slang term was short for Imperials and was no different than her calling Cylon Centurions toasters.

During the walk to the CIC Cain listened as Rostov did her best to explain the current situation around Earth or Terra as the Terran Captain called her planet. It seemed that nearly a century ago Earth expanded out of her home star system to explore nearby solar systems. The expedition to the nearby Alpha Centauri system, a triple star system with a primary binary system orbited by a distant third star colonized a planet like Earth the colonists called Prometheus. Then a few decades later an exploration vessel from the United States of America testing the first of Earth's FTL systems jumped to a system just about two parsecs or roughly six point five two light years coreward from Terra.

"It was in the Barnard's Star system we first encountered the Vilani. We had discovered an unlicensed mining outpost there. As the Impies were working off of one of the asteroids the United States laid claim to some other asteroids and a marginally habitable moon of one of the local gas giants. About a decade later a claim dispute between the Vilani belters and some American belters boiled into a localized shooting war. It seems surviving Vilani belters made an emergency jump back to their nearest colony and the local Imperial forces returned and as soon as they jumped in started attacking any Terran ship regardless of national affiliation. You see back then the Impies assumed that we were as united as we are now."

Cain nodded as they neared the CIC and said, "I take it this started before Earth's unification then?"

Rostov nodded saying, "Yes, but the resulting First Interstellar War ended with us capturing not only Barnard's Star, but the next nearest star system too. It seems that the local Vilani governor didn't want to look bad to his superiors so he concluded hostilities quietly and we had a few more decades of relative peace before his successor decided to reclaim the lost world and all of our worlds for the Imperium. That conflict is known as the Second Interstellar War. After we saved our world again and took another couple of their colonies the local Vilani government again sued for peace. That lasted until just a few years ago and we were losing until just a few days ago. We on the TICO have been hunting down Impy stragglers in system when we detected your exiting jump space."

Cain looked at her counterpart questioning and wanting to know what she just got herself and her crew into. She then said, "So are these Vilani an alien race or machines of your own making?" Her eyes were searching the face of the Earther to tell just what was going on.

Rostov looked at Cain with all seriousness then seeing that the other woman was curious and concerned about her crew and ship answered, "The Vilani are a race of humans who've developed over the past thousand or so years an empire that spread from just a few parsecs coreward back towards the core of the galaxy about one thousand parsecs. From information we've gathered during the last wars their homeworld Vland lies coreward just short of one thousand parsec and about ten parsecs spinward of Sol's current position in this arm of the galaxy."

As the two senior officers talked the Computer Officer of the TICO worked with Lieutenant Shaw and Civilian Contractor Inviere to determine just how much of PEGASUS' code was corrupted Communications Officer Lieutenant Commander Wallis Chard went with Lieutenants Conroy and Valarius to match up TICO's star charts with PEGASUS'.

LT Valarius looked up from the plotting table staring into LCDR Chard's face and asked, "Lieutenant Commander how is it that a Communications Officer can help with a navigation and astrogation issue? I mean aren't your responsibilities ship's communications?"

"My current duties are mainly concerned with ship's communications Lieutenant Valarius, but I came out of the Navigation Division. I am second only to our own Navigator on the TICO when it comes to plotting jump courses and even sub light navigation. I also did duty as an Astrometrics Officer so I have skill in matching up not only star charts but can determine the amount of stellar drift that may have occurred since one set was first made and that of a newer set. So since our Navigations Officer is third in command on the TICO it fell to me to escort Captain Rostov over here and to assist with finding just how lost you all really are."

While the Junior Officers went over the star charts and navigation data Captain Rostov briefed RADM Cain on the local situation and giving her a nutshell lesson on Terran and Vilani history as much as it affected Earth – Vilani relations. Cain realized that this Earth may not be the one of the Thirteenth Tribe and only commented that once there were thirteen tribes on the planet called Kobol and that when wars and other disasters had made Kobol a wreck the thirteenth tribe left before the other twelve in search of a planet called Earth. "That could be Admiral, but this galaxy is very big with over a billion stars and many of those have planets and some of them are habitable by humans. Perhaps this lost thirteenth tribe found a world similar to Earth and settled there. Now as to their fate we have no indication that a space faring race other than the Vilani ever made contact with Terra even when it was called Earth," CAPT Rostov said before she went on about the availability of repair facilities for the PEGASUS. "Sadly I don't know if we have access to the fuel you use for your FTL reaction. We use deuterium which we mine from the hydrogen clouds of gas giants or process from water either liquid or ice we either scoop up or mine," Rostov added when Cain asked about the availability of tylium.

Their discussion was soon interrupted by their respective junior officers looking into just how far the PEGASUS misjumped and what caused the Colonial Fleet's ships to malfunction while the PEGASUS didn't other than the misjump. "Captain, Admiral," began LT Conroy, "The Fleet's ships malfunctioned because of someone placing code within the Command Navigation Program the Fleet was installing into the Battlestars and other Fleet ships. We had not loaded the CNP yet as we had other upgrades to install first. The code allowed the Cylons to infect the ship board computer networks with a virus that let the Cylons take control of the ships and shut them down."

"As for how far we misjumped," LT Valarius began, "We've jumped over five thousand light years. The energy surge that caused this jump burned out our FTL according to Lieutenant Colonel Garner. As to the location this is the Earth system several of their constellations match the ones associated with the Twelve Tribes of Kobol. However Captain Rostov's officers informed us that there is no record of a tribe such as the fabled Thirteenth Tribe coming here from a planet called Kobol."

Rostov's Communications Officer LCDR Chard then added, "From our star charts and yours and adjusting for stellar drift it seems your misjump was more intensive than previously conjectured." Cain looked at the Earther confused as did Rostov.

LT Conroy nodded adding, "Yes you see Admiral according to the comparison of our charts with theirs of the stars we can see from the Cyrannus Cluster in the coreward skies when matched up and adjusted for stellar drift with their charts of the same area of space we have calculated that there has been over one hundred fifty thousand years of drift. Our misjump not only sent us to Earth it also sent us into our future." COL Belzen's jaw dropped, RADM Cain had to grab the side of the plot table to keep from falling.

CAPT Rostov just looked astonished and asked, "Are you quite certain of your findings Commander Chard, Lieutenants Valarius and Conroy?"

LCDR Chard just nodded as did the two PEGASUS officers. Rostov looked at the Colonial officers in the CIC as they all looked on astonished that they were no longer in their time and far from their world that they called home. Of them RADM Cain recovered first and said, "People we have been handed dreadful news. We have not only possibly lost our worlds to a Cylon attack, but the events surrounding our emergency jump from the Scorpion Fleet Yards may have cast us adrift not only in space, but time. We just may be the last of the Colonial Fleet, but we as we have found out are not the last of Humanity. We have found if not our brothers our cousins, in these people from Earth, or as it is now called Terra. We may have escaped our fight with the Cylons, but we have landed into our cousins' fight with another branch of humanity called the Vilani." She paused then and picked up a handset from the side of the tactical plot table. Turing to LT Hoshi she said, "Mister Hoshi put me on ship wide." Then she turned to Captain Rostov and said, "Captain if you may I on behalf of the remnant of the Colonial Fleet and the Crew of the Colonial Fleet Battlestar PEGASUS request asylum within the Terran Confederation and I offer as the senior surviving officer of the Colonial Fleet the services of the Battlestar PEGASUS to the Terran Confederation Navy in your fight against this Ziru Sirka you briefed me about."

Hoshi nodded to Cain signaling that she now had a ship wide connection. Cain steeled herself, cleared her thoughts and throat before saying, "Attention this is the Admiral, we have just jumped from one disaster into the remnants of a major battle between our cousins from Earth and another human race called the Vilani. The Earth humans have just narrowly avoided a similar fate which befell our homes in the Twelve Colonies. From careful calculation of data recently acquired we have not only jumped thousands of light years from home, but over one hundred and fifty thousand years into our own future. Now all we have known is part of the cycle of history, but we still have our distant cousins who can offer us a home and a reason to continue. We may not have to face the Cylons yet again, but we can aid our cousins in battling these Vilani and if the Cylons ever show up in this part of the galaxy we can help to defend Earth from them and teach the Terrans, the native humans of Earth just how to fight the Cylons. May the enemies of our branch of humanity rue the day they decided to drive us into the darkness of the night. I know many of you have deep felt anger over what happened to the Colonies, but let me tell you our cousins are no less angry over the near destruction of Earth by their cousins and ours the Vilani. Humanity has fought itself eons before the Terrans first encountered the Vilani. We in the Colonies fought each other until the Cylons rebelled and forced us to unite for our own survival. Now we have to unite with our brothers here on Earth and its colonies. We help them win against the Vilani and someday our children will rediscover the Twelve Colonies and find out what happened there. If anyone still lives we will reunite with them. If the Cylons still exist and have exterminated our brothers and sisters back home we or our children or theirs will teach the Cylons that humanity will not just die and give up. We will avenge in time the loss of our homes and families even if it is our descendants who go forth in our names!"

BS PEGASUS PORTSIDE FLIGHT POD HANGAR BAY

Gina Inviere, LT Shaw, and LCDR Michaela Shaw (no relation to the Caprican Lieutenant) were working on fixing the diagnostic computer system for the hangar bay when Cain made her speech. All the Deck Hands and other crew present in the area stopped and listened to Cain's speech and when it was over a light brown skinned Knuckle Dragger from Tauron shouted, "SO SAY WE ALL!" over and over until everyone in the chamber picked up the chant even surprisingly LCDR Shaw.

BS PEGASUS CIC

COL Belzen sensing the moment turned on the ship wide microphone pickups to broadcast within the CIC. As soon as he heard the chant being repeated across the PEGASUS he picked it up shouting over and over, "SO SAY WE ALL!" The rest of the officers and crew of the PEGASUS in or outside the CIC soon also picked up the chant repeating it over and over.

CAPT Rostov found herself also repeating it. She looked over surprised to see that LCDR Chard was wrapped up in also repeating the chant as loud as he could along with the Colonial officers and crew.


End file.
